When I was little, one of my favorite Christmas shows was “The Little Drummer Boy”. This was long before I became a Christian, but even then, watching this show always brought a tear to my eye. While tiling my bathroom wall, this song came on my iPod and I really listened to the lyrics and thought, you know, those words are pretty good theology.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there is no little drummer boy in the Bible. All we know are that some kings from the East came and visited Jesus (we don’t even really know how many) and brought him some gifts. By the way, Jesus was around 2 years old when these kings came. It was not when he was in the manger.
Anyway, let’s start at the beginning of “The Little Drummer Boy”.
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
In the Bible, Andrew is one of the first to meet Jesus. Immediately after meeting Jesus, he finds his brother Peter. John 1:40-42a says, “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.”
This should be our reaction as well. When we meet Jesus, we should be going out and bringing others to Him.
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
This should be our attitude, to lay our finest gifts before Christ. Malachi 3:10 says, “’Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty,‘ and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
If we bring God our best, He’ll bless us for that. But, here’s the big question, what is our best?
Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
Like the little drummer boy, we may often feel that we have nothing of any real value to bring to Christ. We may feel that we’re not that talented, so there’s no place in ministry for us. We’re not rich, so we can’t lay gold, Frankincense or Mir at His feet. We have nothing to bring Him, nothing to give Him, nothing to do for Him, so we do nothing and go our own way.
I’d like to explore two answers to the question of what we can bring Christ. The first is given by the prophet Samuel in 1Samuel 15:22. “But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
The one gift that we can all give to Christ is our obedience. Christ said in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” God wants us to love Him and we do that by following His commands. That is one gift that is worthy of The King that any Christian can bring.
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
…
Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.
The little drummer boy, though, provides us with the second answer. One gift we can bring to Christ is to do our best for Him in no matter what it is. Think about it. Does God really need anything from us? No, He has everything. He created everything. Nothing we could give him, in the material sense, means anything to Him. But, God is our heavenly father, and He delights in His children when they do their best for Him. If you have children of your own, just think back to the delight you had when they drew a picture for you. Even if it was a bunch of scribbles, it was the best your child could do at the time and you were delighted. God is the same way. We’re not all called to be “great” as the world defines great. But, we are all called to do our best for the Lord.
Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,”
1Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
It’s not what we can do that concerns God. It’s not how well we can do it. Rather, it’s the state of our heart when we do something. Are we working for God and are we doing our best? Psalms 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Like the little drummer boy, we may not feel that what we do is worthy of the God who created the universe, but if we humble ourselves and do our best and do what we do for God and not ourselves, then we too one day will stand before Christ and he will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21).
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Our Fascination with the Supernatural
I admit that since I was a child, I’ve had a fascination with the supernatural. Vampires, werewolves, warlocks, dragons, wizards and the such. And America’s fascination with the supernatural seems to be at a peak. When I was a kid, it was “Bewitched” that was a favorite of many. This show portrayed witches as generally good people. Interestingly, the use of magic usually landed Samantha in trouble, though it was also magic that got her back out of trouble.
Today, such shows as “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Charmed” are popular. The Harry Potter series of books and movies are hugely successful, as is the “Twilight” series. I’ve seen previews of an upcoming remake of “The Wolfman” as well. And of course, Dracula has been remade many times.
Even Christian stories such as “Lord of the Rings” and the Narnia series are rooted in the supernatural. Though, the Narnia series is a Christian allegory. However, if parents don’t explain the allegory to their kids, the kids probably won’t understand that Aslan, the lion, is a representation of Christ. One interesting fact to note, whenever a human performs magic in “The Lord of the Rings” bad things happen. Gandalf is not a human, he is a Mithra, or a race of angels. Anyway, I digress.
I’m not one of those who thinks we should ban or even protest movies such as Harry Potter or “Twlight”. I believe it is up to the parents to educate their children about the supernatural and to both know and decide what is appropriate for their children to watch. However, I do believe there are two major consequences that result from our glorification of things from the occult. And yes, magic, witches, warlocks, etc. are of the occult. They are not sanctioned by God. The Bible is pretty clear on God’s stance regarding the practice of witchcraft:
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
Therefore, when Hollywood or an author glorifies witchcraft, or makes witchcraft appear good, they are going contrary to the Bible. This, in of itself, is a problem, and thus parents should educate their children about what the Bible has to say about witchcraft.
Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Movies do this all the time – glorify evil. Our children need to be educated on what is good and what is truly evil.
It is this portrayal of evil as good that is the first danger of our fascination of the supernatural. We are raising generations of children who may believe that witchcraft is good, that divination is good, and that even traditional icons of evil such as vampires can be good. People are attracted to evil. I believe this is the sinful nature inside of us, but I also believe the media shares some of the blame. And by the media I include fiction authors, movie producers, and television producers. “Wizards of Waverly Place” may be a cute, entertaining show, but one consequence of this show is to demonstrate to children that witchcraft is okay, fun, and even useful.
The second consequence of our current portrayal of the supernatural is actually somewhat of an opposite effect. It’s the trivialization of the supernatural. Remember, God is supernatural. The Bible has many many occurrences of supernatural healings, miracles, and other events. And not just through Jesus, but also through his disciples. And witchcraft as well as conversing with the dead is real, as seen in 1Samuel 28 when Saul asks the witches of Endor to consult with the dead spirit of Samuel. There is a natural world and there is a supernatural world. But, we are so bombarded with fictional portrayals of the supernatural that many people may have a tendency to shake off the entire concept as fiction. This, unfortunately, includes God.
I believe the saturation of the supernatural in fiction has a numbing effect on people, leading them to disregard the actual existence of evil supernatural entities (demons) and the actual existence of good supernatural entities (God and His angels). Ignoring either the evil supernatural or the good supernatural can have devastating consequences.
So, what’s the answer? Total censorship! No, that’s not the answer. The answer, as usual lies in the Bible: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). Parents, train your children in the ways of the Bible so that they know fiction from reality and so that they know what is truly evil and what is truly good. Of course, if one way you want to train them is by not allowing them to watch shows that glorify evil, then good for you, that is your prerogative. Another way is to watch these shows and movies with your children and explain to them what the Bible says and why what they are seeing is both fiction and dishonoring to God.
And for all of us, we need to read the Bible so that we’re familiar both with what God says about things such as witchcraft and speaking to the dead, and to learn about both the good supernatural and the evil supernatural. We need to educate ourselves and that education should come from the Bible, not from Hollywood. 2Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The way to fight the world and its portrayal of evil as good is to be equipped with God’s Word.
Our fascination with the supernatural is not a bad thing. God is supernatural. We should pursue the supernatural. It’s just that we need to pursue the right path to the supernatural and we need to learn to call evil evil and good good.
Today, such shows as “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Charmed” are popular. The Harry Potter series of books and movies are hugely successful, as is the “Twilight” series. I’ve seen previews of an upcoming remake of “The Wolfman” as well. And of course, Dracula has been remade many times.
Even Christian stories such as “Lord of the Rings” and the Narnia series are rooted in the supernatural. Though, the Narnia series is a Christian allegory. However, if parents don’t explain the allegory to their kids, the kids probably won’t understand that Aslan, the lion, is a representation of Christ. One interesting fact to note, whenever a human performs magic in “The Lord of the Rings” bad things happen. Gandalf is not a human, he is a Mithra, or a race of angels. Anyway, I digress.
I’m not one of those who thinks we should ban or even protest movies such as Harry Potter or “Twlight”. I believe it is up to the parents to educate their children about the supernatural and to both know and decide what is appropriate for their children to watch. However, I do believe there are two major consequences that result from our glorification of things from the occult. And yes, magic, witches, warlocks, etc. are of the occult. They are not sanctioned by God. The Bible is pretty clear on God’s stance regarding the practice of witchcraft:
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
Therefore, when Hollywood or an author glorifies witchcraft, or makes witchcraft appear good, they are going contrary to the Bible. This, in of itself, is a problem, and thus parents should educate their children about what the Bible has to say about witchcraft.
Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Movies do this all the time – glorify evil. Our children need to be educated on what is good and what is truly evil.
It is this portrayal of evil as good that is the first danger of our fascination of the supernatural. We are raising generations of children who may believe that witchcraft is good, that divination is good, and that even traditional icons of evil such as vampires can be good. People are attracted to evil. I believe this is the sinful nature inside of us, but I also believe the media shares some of the blame. And by the media I include fiction authors, movie producers, and television producers. “Wizards of Waverly Place” may be a cute, entertaining show, but one consequence of this show is to demonstrate to children that witchcraft is okay, fun, and even useful.
The second consequence of our current portrayal of the supernatural is actually somewhat of an opposite effect. It’s the trivialization of the supernatural. Remember, God is supernatural. The Bible has many many occurrences of supernatural healings, miracles, and other events. And not just through Jesus, but also through his disciples. And witchcraft as well as conversing with the dead is real, as seen in 1Samuel 28 when Saul asks the witches of Endor to consult with the dead spirit of Samuel. There is a natural world and there is a supernatural world. But, we are so bombarded with fictional portrayals of the supernatural that many people may have a tendency to shake off the entire concept as fiction. This, unfortunately, includes God.
I believe the saturation of the supernatural in fiction has a numbing effect on people, leading them to disregard the actual existence of evil supernatural entities (demons) and the actual existence of good supernatural entities (God and His angels). Ignoring either the evil supernatural or the good supernatural can have devastating consequences.
So, what’s the answer? Total censorship! No, that’s not the answer. The answer, as usual lies in the Bible: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). Parents, train your children in the ways of the Bible so that they know fiction from reality and so that they know what is truly evil and what is truly good. Of course, if one way you want to train them is by not allowing them to watch shows that glorify evil, then good for you, that is your prerogative. Another way is to watch these shows and movies with your children and explain to them what the Bible says and why what they are seeing is both fiction and dishonoring to God.
And for all of us, we need to read the Bible so that we’re familiar both with what God says about things such as witchcraft and speaking to the dead, and to learn about both the good supernatural and the evil supernatural. We need to educate ourselves and that education should come from the Bible, not from Hollywood. 2Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The way to fight the world and its portrayal of evil as good is to be equipped with God’s Word.
Our fascination with the supernatural is not a bad thing. God is supernatural. We should pursue the supernatural. It’s just that we need to pursue the right path to the supernatural and we need to learn to call evil evil and good good.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Idol Worship
Well, here I am out of a job again, so I have some time to keep my blog updated. Prayerfully, the out of jobness will be short-lived. And prayerfully as well, I’ll try to keep the blog updated even when I go back to work.
There has been a lot of things going on lately, fodder for my theological ravings. The one I’d like to focus on today is the Tiger Woods incident. Yeah, I know, you’re all probably sick of hearing about it. But allow me to say just one more thing about this incident.
America is guilty of a great many sins. For starters, all of us as individuals are sinners. We do stuff wrong all the time. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But there seems to be one great sin that so many Americans participate in, Christians and non-Christians alike, and that is the sin of idol worship. We even have a television program called “American Idol”. The Bible is very clear on idol worship – we’re not to do it. The first two commandments of the Ten Commandments are: “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:7-10).
Throughout the Old Testament, God continually chastises the Hebrews for idol worship. And yet, in America, a country where over 90% of the people profess to believe in God, we worship many idols. Rock stars, television stars, movie stars, and yes, professional athletes.
Tiger Woods is one of those idols worshipped on the throne of the American Dream. He’s one of those men held up to children as an example that we can accomplish anything if we just work hard at it. That anyone in America can succeed.
Looking up to others that have succeeded is not all bad. But here’s the problem. Tiger Woods is a great golfer. No doubt about that. Maybe the greatest ever. But Americans don’t want to stop there. We want to form an image of Tiger in our heads that places him on a pedestal and makes him a paragon of human virtue. We can’t simply accept him as a great golfer and admire his golf skills, but we must also assume that he’s a great person. Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t. Obviously, he’s made some dumb decisions in his personal life. But haven’t we all? Now, I’m in no way condoning anything he did. But, what I’m trying to say is that just because Tiger Woods is a great golfer does not mean he’s a man to be emulated in all facets of life. He’s not perfect. As we’ve seen. But what really floors me is the vitriol that comes out of people because he messed up. And it’s all because of idol worship.
I don’t know Tiger Woods’ spiritual state. I don’t know if he’s a follower of Jesus or not. If not, then his behavior is to be expected. Lost people act like lost people. There should be no reason to expect him to live a virtuous life without the only One who can empower us to do so. And if he is a Christian, then he has God to answer to, not us.
Movie stars, rock stars, and athletes can be admired for the talents they possess. However, we should not expect them to live lives of perfection. I think our rage at a star who falls is really a reflection of our own guilt. We know that we cannot live perfect lives and thus project onto our “heroes” the ability to do so. Therefore, when that hero fails, as they all do, we’re let down, we’re angry, we’re confused, and most of all, we’re faced with the fact that man, us included, is fallen and that makes us uncomfortable. Americans are prideful and we don’t want to accept that we need a Savior and that we’re incapable of living like we want on our own. Paul said in Romans 2:1, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” We expect our heroes NOT to do the same things that we do. And when they prove themselves to be human, we get angry.
There is only one hero who lived a perfect life and that was Jesus Christ. If we worship Him, we will not be let down. He will never mess up. He will never sin. He never did sin. He lived a perfect life and gave Himself up for us so that we, if we believe in Him, and submit ourselves to Him, can have assurance of eternal life. And in Heaven, there will be no sin, therefore, no one will let us down.
Worship Jesus, not the latest star of Twilight or your favorite NFL quarterback or even the next American Idol, for Jesus will never let you down.
Oh, and one more thing that I find strange with us Americans. We expect our athletes, rock stars, and movie stars to be such virtuous people and we’re angry when they let us down. But when a politician messes up, that’s just par for the course. Our priorities are completely out of whack. And I believe there’s coming a day of reckoning. God will tolerate our idol worship only so long. Go back to the beginning of this and read Deuteronomy 5:7-10 again.
There has been a lot of things going on lately, fodder for my theological ravings. The one I’d like to focus on today is the Tiger Woods incident. Yeah, I know, you’re all probably sick of hearing about it. But allow me to say just one more thing about this incident.
America is guilty of a great many sins. For starters, all of us as individuals are sinners. We do stuff wrong all the time. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But there seems to be one great sin that so many Americans participate in, Christians and non-Christians alike, and that is the sin of idol worship. We even have a television program called “American Idol”. The Bible is very clear on idol worship – we’re not to do it. The first two commandments of the Ten Commandments are: “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:7-10).
Throughout the Old Testament, God continually chastises the Hebrews for idol worship. And yet, in America, a country where over 90% of the people profess to believe in God, we worship many idols. Rock stars, television stars, movie stars, and yes, professional athletes.
Tiger Woods is one of those idols worshipped on the throne of the American Dream. He’s one of those men held up to children as an example that we can accomplish anything if we just work hard at it. That anyone in America can succeed.
Looking up to others that have succeeded is not all bad. But here’s the problem. Tiger Woods is a great golfer. No doubt about that. Maybe the greatest ever. But Americans don’t want to stop there. We want to form an image of Tiger in our heads that places him on a pedestal and makes him a paragon of human virtue. We can’t simply accept him as a great golfer and admire his golf skills, but we must also assume that he’s a great person. Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t. Obviously, he’s made some dumb decisions in his personal life. But haven’t we all? Now, I’m in no way condoning anything he did. But, what I’m trying to say is that just because Tiger Woods is a great golfer does not mean he’s a man to be emulated in all facets of life. He’s not perfect. As we’ve seen. But what really floors me is the vitriol that comes out of people because he messed up. And it’s all because of idol worship.
I don’t know Tiger Woods’ spiritual state. I don’t know if he’s a follower of Jesus or not. If not, then his behavior is to be expected. Lost people act like lost people. There should be no reason to expect him to live a virtuous life without the only One who can empower us to do so. And if he is a Christian, then he has God to answer to, not us.
Movie stars, rock stars, and athletes can be admired for the talents they possess. However, we should not expect them to live lives of perfection. I think our rage at a star who falls is really a reflection of our own guilt. We know that we cannot live perfect lives and thus project onto our “heroes” the ability to do so. Therefore, when that hero fails, as they all do, we’re let down, we’re angry, we’re confused, and most of all, we’re faced with the fact that man, us included, is fallen and that makes us uncomfortable. Americans are prideful and we don’t want to accept that we need a Savior and that we’re incapable of living like we want on our own. Paul said in Romans 2:1, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” We expect our heroes NOT to do the same things that we do. And when they prove themselves to be human, we get angry.
There is only one hero who lived a perfect life and that was Jesus Christ. If we worship Him, we will not be let down. He will never mess up. He will never sin. He never did sin. He lived a perfect life and gave Himself up for us so that we, if we believe in Him, and submit ourselves to Him, can have assurance of eternal life. And in Heaven, there will be no sin, therefore, no one will let us down.
Worship Jesus, not the latest star of Twilight or your favorite NFL quarterback or even the next American Idol, for Jesus will never let you down.
Oh, and one more thing that I find strange with us Americans. We expect our athletes, rock stars, and movie stars to be such virtuous people and we’re angry when they let us down. But when a politician messes up, that’s just par for the course. Our priorities are completely out of whack. And I believe there’s coming a day of reckoning. God will tolerate our idol worship only so long. Go back to the beginning of this and read Deuteronomy 5:7-10 again.
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